


Secrets

by Hyfriancarousel



Series: Red shoes month 2020 [8]
Category: Red Shoes and the 7 Dwarfs (2019)
Genre: Carrots, Gardens & Gardening, Gen, Help, Post-Ending, Roommates, Secrets, Sharing, harvest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-08
Updated: 2020-08-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:27:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25784377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hyfriancarousel/pseuds/Hyfriancarousel
Summary: Gardening equals knowledge.
Series: Red shoes month 2020 [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1860025
Comments: 1
Kudos: 8





	Secrets

Many plants have green leaves, if only to match Mother Nature's aesthetic. Giving them a tuck and a good pull gives you a fruit or a vegetable, like a carrot, fresh from the soil. 

Although it wasn't unusual to get something else too.

Like slugs.

Hans picked up this slimy, friendly pest and placed it away from his carrot crop. It wasn't good to have your hard-grown efforts be eaten by loitering creatures.

He sighed.

Merlin must have had a spell to get rid of them.

Usually, Merlin did most of the harvesting. Hans planted the seeds, Pino, Noki, and Kio watered them.

They had a system.

But now that Merlin was married, he had to take part in problem-solving the issues the kingdom faced. King White and Snow White appreciated it.

Pino, Noki and Kio also stayed at the castle. They're trying to figure out how poison apples work. If the magic from them can be traced back to a source. Or be made harmless to those who consumed them.

Admirable causes.

But it also meant that they didn’t visit Risky Rock. They hadn’t even come to say hi.

Not that the four were absolutely necessary, but it did break the system a little. And brought slugs in its wake.

So Hans was harvesting carrots.

Well, he wasn’t alone. Jack sat further away on the rocks, looking up at the sky. He kept Hans company, but wasn’t helping him.

“You know,” Hans said, “You could help with the harvesting.”

Jack’s gaze shifted to Hans. He grimaced before smiling at him.

Not a very convincing smile.

“I’m not really a fan of dirt and...soil,” Jack coughed as he shifted his pose.

Hans sighed as he grabbed another carrot.

"If you’re not going to help, you can go," he pulled it out of the ground. "I can do it myself.”

He placed the carrot in his basket. He might have been a little bitter, but when slugs are more attentive than your roommates, you start re-evaluating things. 

Jack kept staring at him from further away, silent. Only the wind was making noise. He stood up and dusted himself off before moving closer, almost swaying. 

“Well, I suppose I could help you,” he said, “If you tell me something.” 

Hans didn’t even face him. 

Jack stepped onto the soil, trying to avoid getting it on his clothes. He stepped over the discarded slug as he got close to Hans and tapped his arm twice. 

Hans stopped and glanced at him. 

“You already know a lot about me,” Hans said. 

He pulled two carrots out of the ground at the same time. 

“Actually, I think you know EVERYTHING about me." 

Jack's smile became a line. He shifted his position back, so now he was staring at Hans from a different angle. 

Jack's eyes were cold. 

“But that, my friend, is a lie." 

He placed his hands over Hans’s and took the carrots. 

“No person in the world can ever truly understand someone else’s complete being," He moved the carrots as he talked. 

“Some might get close, sure.” 

He stopped, wrapping one carrot’s green leaves against its orange peel. He looked at Hans, blue shining in his eyes. 

“But there will always be something you never tell anyone.” 

Hans blinked. A confusing way with words. And metaphors. But that’s just what Jack did. It was his entire interest. 

Mystery. 

“Where are you going with this, exactly?” Hans said. 

Jack’s eyes stared into his own so deeply, that Hans was sure he could easily stop existing at any second. 

“I want you to tell me the thing you have never told anyone,” Jack leaned closer, "The thing you have never written down.” 

He broke off a piece from one of the carrots as he placed them into the basket. He held it in Hans’s view. 

“The one thing I don’t know.” 

Hans looked at the piece, then at Jack. He was one for physical metaphors, yes, but there was no need to break a perfectly good carrot. 

He shook his head to focus on Jack’s words instead of his actions. 

“...Why?” 

A sort of dryness in his throat made Hans sound a lot more nervous than he was. Jack looked at him, less deeply, but the intensiveness hadn’t disappeared between sentences.

“Because,” Jack started, “I pride myself in knowing everything I can about you.”

Hans leaned away, just to put a bit of distance between them. What should he do? Humoring Jack was usually the best strategy, but would he see through him if he lied?

He faced Jack to see the same, intense eyes staring back at him.

Oh, definitely. He would definitely notice.

Hans tried to think of something.

“I’ll tell you,” He took a breath, pointing at Jack. “But YOU have to tell me something too."

Jack smirked at him, but Hans lifted his hand to stop him from doing so. He sat down, close to the ever smaller patch of green. Jack followed him, interest almost burning in his eyes. This was going well so far. He looked at Jack.

“You need to tell me the last lie you told.”

A silence between stares was broken by Jack’s chuckle. He seemed humored by something. Perhaps Hans’s question was unexpected?

“Why in the world made you care about knowing that?” Jack said.

He kept chuckling while Hans put a sweet smile on his face.

“Secrets aren’t free.” He tapped Jack’s arm. “You should know that, Mister Invisible.”

This deal was mostly in Jack’s favor. A lie for the core of someone's psyche was a very cheap price. But Hans wasn’t really going for fairness. It was a lot more fun to see Jack deal with something unexpected.

Jack’s chuckling had finally died down.

“Lie first, then?” He said, quietly.

“That’s what I was thinking,” Hans nodded.

Jack looked around them just to make sure they were alone. He moved himself near him, whispering in his ear.

“I’m happy you’ve returned, Queen Regina.”

White noise filled Hans’s brain. His eyes widened, his body felt heavy, as if he was frozen.

What did Jack say?

Queen Regina was tackled and plunged into the air by Merlin, and then electrocuted with more lightning than anyone could handle. Even a witch of her power could not escape a blast of that size.

Hans stared at Jack, still feeling frozen.

Something grabbed the harvesting basket.

Arthur?

“What are you two gossiping about?" He held the basket in his hands." I thought you were getting carrots!”

Hans flinched violently at the sudden noise. Jack simply looked up at their other roommate.

“We were,” He said. “I mean, he was.”

He gestured at Hans with his thumb. Arthur’s smile fell in confusion.

“Wait, you didn’t help?”

Jack blinked.

“I was going to, but you broke the moment.”

Arthur looked at them, gaze shifting between Jack and Hans. He scratched his neck.

“Ah, whatever, as long as we’ll get these inside. I’ll help!”

He ran to the other side of the patch of carrots — which at this point wasn’t that far away — kicked a slug out of the way and started gathering carrots. Hans and Jack joined him in silence.

Listening to the wind was fine and all, but it wasn’t really Arthur’s forte. He loved conversation.

“Well, don’t be all quiet!” He said. “What were you two doing?”

Jack shrugged as he tried to pull out a carrot.

“Trading secrets.”

“Secrets?” Arthur asked. “But those aren’t meant to be traded!”

Jack ripped the leaves out of the ground, but got no carrot. He looked up from his failed attempt.

“Calm down, we had a deal.”

Jack glanced at Hans.

“Which reminds me," He said, "You have to keep your end of our little bargain.”

Hans took a breath and nodded.

“I will.”

**Author's Note:**

> Day 8: Carrots of @redshoesmonth2020's (tumblr) Red shoes prompt month.


End file.
